The objective of this study is to reconstruct the history of glaciation from the start of Fraser (Late Wisconsinan) Glaciation to the end of deglaciation, for three areas in the Cascade Mountains. The Cascade Mountains are located between the Coast Mountains and the Interior Plateau in southwestern British Columbia. The Coast Mountains were glaciated by mountain glaciation followed by frontal retreat, whereas the Interior Plateau underwent ice sheet glaciation followed by downwasting and stagnation. The Cascades were supposed to have undergone a style of glaciation transitional between these two. Terrain mapping on air photographs followed by field checking was used to locate surficial materials and landforms indicative of glaciation style and pattern. All three study areas were glaciated by mixed mountain and ice sheet glaciation. At the start of Fraser Glaciation, alpine and valley glaciers formed around higher summits as occurred in the Coast Mountains. At the glacial maximum the entire area was covered by the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Deglaciation was largely by continuous downvalley retreat of active glaciers, contrasting with downwasting and stagnation in the Interior Plateau, and frontal retreat in the Coast Mountains. The scarcity of fresh moraines in the cirques suggests that, unlike in the Coast Mountains, most cirque glaciers were not active at the end of glaciation. Only the highest north facing cirques remained above the local snowline throughout deglaciation and, as a result, glaciers in these valleys remained active and retreated up valley. The pattern of glaciation in the Cascade Mountains was similar to that of other areas which underwent mixed mountain and ice sheet glaciation, such as the Presidential Range in New Hampshire, the Green Mountains in Vermont, mountain ranges in west central Maine and the Insular Mountains on Vancouver Island. However, deglaciation in al l areas was complex and depended strongly on local conditions. For this reason local patterns cannot be predicted easily on the basis of glaciation style. The value of an understanding of glaciation style to improve the accuracy of terrain mapping was also investigated. It was found that the model developed for the Cascade Mountains was of some use in predicting the presence of fine-textured material in valley bottoms and for the prediction of glaciofluvial material overlying till . However fine-textured sediments were not found in al l valleys which were predicted to contain them. The model appears to be most useful as an indicator of where to concentrate field checking in order to locate fine-textured sediments.

The purpose of this thesis is to describe in detail the fonn, lithology, elevation, tflt and distribution of abandoned glacial lake shoreline features and associated fluvioglacial and glacial deposits of Southwest Labrador Qnap 1). These characteristics are the result of distinct geomorphic and geophysical processes operating in late glacial and post glacial times and therefore a study of these characteristics reveals certain facts about the glacierization of Labrador-Ungava* and the deglaci erization of Southwest Labrador. The tilt of the glacial lake shoreline features is a result of glacial isostatic recovery and therefore the tilt of the shorelines reflects the differentiai thickness of the laurentide lee Sheet over Southwest Labrador during a certain stage in the Wisconsin period. If tilts of shorelines in other areas are used in conjunction with the tilts from Southwest Labrador it is possible to locate a point which represents a centre of ice dispersal of the Laurentide lee Sheet during a certain stage in the Wisconsin period.

This thesis examines the role of rock avalanches in tectonically active terrains including the effects of the deposits on glacier behaviour and their contribution to moraine formation. The chronologies of mountain glacier fluctuations, based on moraine ages, are widely used to infer regional climate change and are often correlated globally. In actively uplifting mountain ranges rock avalanches that travel onto the ablation zone of a glacier can reduce ice-surface melting by insulating the ice. This can cause buried ice to thicken due to slower ablation and can significantly alter the overall glacier mass balance. This glacier response to supraglacial rock avalanche deposits can confound apparent climatic signals extracted from moraine chronologies. This thesis investigates the processes through which rock avalanche deposits may affect glaciers and develops a new technique to identify the presence of rock avalanche debris in glacial moraines. From laboratory experiments on the effects of debris on ice ablation it is demonstrated that the rate of underlying ice ablation is controlled by diurnal cyclicity and is amplified at high altitude and in lower latitudes. The relatively low permeability of rock avalanche sediment in comparison with non-rock avalanche supraglacial debris cover contributes to the suppression of ablation, at least partly because it greatly reduces the advection of heat from rain water to the underlying ice. The laboratory findings are supplemented by field investigations of two recent rock avalanche deposits on glaciers in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. This work demonstrates that the rock avalanche deposits are very thick (10 m at Aoraki/Mt. Cook and 7m at Mt. Beatrice) and almost stopped the ablation of the overlying ice. This resulted in the formation of an ice-platform more than 30 m high. This led to a reduction of the existing negative mass balance of the affected Tasman and Hooker Glaciers. There was little noticeable alteration of the overall glacial regime due to the small scale of the debris covered area (4 and 1% of the ablation zones for the Tasman and Hooker Glaciers, respectively) but there is a significant contribution to supraglacial debris, which is passively transported toward the terminus. A conceptual model of the response of mountain valley glaciers to emplacement of extensive rock avalanche debris on the ablation zone has been proposed for the effect of this type of debris on terminal moraine formation based on enhanced ‘dumping’ of supraglacial sediments. A new technique has been developed to distinguish rock-avalanche-derived sediment from sediment of glacial origin, based on the sedimentary characteristics of the finest fraction. Examination of rock avalanche sediment under the Scanning Electron Microscope showed that finer particles tend to form strong clumps, which comprise many smaller (down to nanometre-scale) clasts, named here ‘agglomerates’. These agglomerates are present in the fine fraction of all examined rock avalanche deposits and absent in known non-rock-avalanche-derived glacial sediments. The agglomerates are characteristics of sediment produced under the high-stress conditions of rock avalanche emplacement and contrast with lower-stress process sub- and en-glacial environments. It is demonstrated that these agglomerates are present in some moraines in the Southern Alps of New Zealand that have been attributed to climate fluctuation. Consequently, this technique has the potential to resolve long-standing arguments about the role of rock avalanches in moraine formation, and to enhance the use of moraines in palaeoclimatological studies.

This thesis investigates the shore processes of Lake Pukaki to assess the suitability and performance of existing and potential future options for management of shore hazards. Following two successive raisings of the water level in the past sixty years, Lake Pukaki’s shoreline has undergone extensive erosion. Since mid 1987 until early 1988, shoreline erosion control structures (i.e. rock revetments, gabion baskets and groynes) were constructed and maintained to protect sections of road and other assets from further encroachment of the lake shoreline. The use of the RBR XR-620 pressure sensor in this study marks the first occasion when wave statistics were measured via instrumentation at Lake Pukaki. The mean significant wave height (Hs) identified for this study was 0.53 m, while the maximum recorded wave height was 1.84 m. Similar to other alpine lakes, Lake Pukaki has characteristics of steep plunging waves. The LAKEWAVE wave hindcasting model is used to describe the wave environment about the Lake Pukaki shoreline in terms of its optimum energy potential. The maximum wave height and wave period values estimated by LAKEWAVE have been found to compare well with measured wave statistics. Under the current wave climate, experienced during this study period (July 2010 – February 2011), the majority of the assessed rock revetments seem to be performing well. The Hudson and Van der Meer formula seemed to predict respectable stability thresholds that agree with what was observed in the field. The revetment at Site 3 is the biggest concern in terms of performance based on field observations. The short-period high-magnitude storm events, eventuating from a strong north/northwest wind flow, that coincide with high lake levels tend to cause the most significant erosion along the shoreline at Lake Pukaki and have a major influence of riprap stability. Other environmental factors including the steep nearshore profile, the glacial till backshore, groundwater and precipitation were identified as controlling factors leading to the success or failure of the shore protection structures.

The Antarctic Ice Sheets responded significantly to climatic conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the subsequent warming that followed. Therefore, an understanding of how Antarctica reacted to past climates is necessary to predict the response of its ice sheets to current and future climate change. This thesis presents new evidence about the timing and magnitude of East and West Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS & WAIS) changes during the Quaternary Period, from the Darwin Hatherton glacial system (DHGS, 79.5S, 158E). The DHGS drains the EAIS through the Transantarctic Mountains into the Ross Ice Shelf and glacial deposits have been used to constrain ice sheet thicknesses in this sector of the Ross Sea Embayment. At four sites along the length of the system, glacial deposits were mapped and 73 erratic and bedrock samples collected for ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al surface exposure dating (SED). The exposure ages range from 0.01 to 2.2 Ma and generally show a trend of oldest ages at the highest elevations, thus suggesting an overall decrease of ice volume within the DHGS over the Quaternary. The older ages suggest that during the Plio-Pleistocene, DHGS ice was at least 800-1000 metres thicker than present, while in the mid to late-Holocene thickening was less than 50-80 metres. Four glacial advance and retreat events were described and mapped previously from the DHGS by Bockheim et al (1989). The Isca and Danum drifts, are ~1-2 and 0.6 Ma respectively. The Britannia-II Drift, previously assumed to mark the maximum extent of the Last Glacial Maximum advance is more complex, with clusters of ages at ~6.5, ~36 and ~125 ka. The youngest drift, the Hatherton is mid to late-Holocene (<4.5 ka) and suggests that the DHGS has been near its equilibrium position during this period. Throughout the DHGS no unequivocal evidence of the LGM was observed and therefore poses questions about the past thickness of the Antarctic ice sheets during the LGM. Exposure ages from sites near the head of the Hatherton Glacier (Dubris Valley & Lake Wellman) suggest that at the LGM, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet may have been of similar size, or slightly smaller, than present. In stark contrast, at the confluence of the Darwin Glacier and the Ross Ice Shelf, a WAIS ~400-900 metres above the modern ice surface is tentatively suggested; A value in agreement with that proposed by modern glaciological models. Additionally, while the results from the Dubris and Bibra valleys show that the EAIS thins during glacial climates (i.e. the LGM), it also suggests thickening during interglacials. The Britannia-I and II drifts representing retreats at~6.5 and ~125 ka from glacial highstands. A number of key findings related to the application of SED in Antarctic settings are also presented. The use of dual-nuclides (¹⁰Be & ²⁶Al) show that within the DHGS, the proportion of samples displaying a prior burial history increases with distance from the catchment. The spread of exposure ages observed in the dataset also show the complexity of the depositional processes occurring at cold-based glacial margins and therefore judicious sample selection is required to obtain exposure ages that are representative of the true deglaciation age.

The upland soils of Randolph County, Indiana were studied for the following purposes: to provide an additional characterization of these soils, to identify a set of soil parameters that could delineate the extent of Late Wisconsinan glaciation in that county and to determine if there were any geographic trends in silt cap thickness. The study was prompted from observations by the recent Randolph County Soil Survey team that high clay content soils commonly associated with the county's Late Wisconsinan till (Lagro Formation) were found south of its previously mapped boundary.The only soil parameters that were effective in mapping the extent of Late Wisconsinan glaciation were: particle size analyses and some combinations of particle size analysis data with other soil parameters. The data support the previously mapped boundary of the Late Wisconsinan sediments in Randolph County, Indiana.Silt cap thickness was identified to be greatest in three areas of the county. However, the source(s) of these silts could not be determined. / Department of Geology

The Komie Creek map area was fully glaciated by the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) during the Late Wisconsinan Fraser Glaciation. Ice flow during the glacial maximum was towards the southwest, as indicated by the orientation of streamlined landforms on the Etsho Plateau. At some time after the Fraser Glaciation maximum, the LIS divided into two lobes (upland and lowland). The subsequent landform assemblages, highlighted well in LiDAR imagery, provide evidence that the upland lobe retreated to the northeast and the lateral margin of the lowland lobe dropped to the southwest. Organic deposits are the dominant surficial material type in the Komie Creek map area. They have accumulated and been deposited on poorly drained clay and silt-rich morainal and glacio-lacustrine deposits. Morainal deposits are the next most common surficial material type in the area and dominate along the top of the Etsho Escarpment and in the northeast corner of the study area. Glaciofluvial deposits are rare. During ice retreat, an ice-marginal lake formed in the south-central part of the study area where the lowland lobe prevented drainage of meltwater out of the area. An aerially extensive landform, interpreted as an ice-contact glaciofluvial delta complex, was deposited into this dynamic glacial lake. The lake levels rose abruptly several times during delta deposition as a result of large west-flowing outburst floods in the Cabin Creek melt water channel, generated when a glacial lake breached its margins on or under the upland lobe. The delta is composed of several lobate landforms that sedimentologically are highly variable. This thesis presents a new, detailed 1:50,000-scale surficial geology map for the Komie Creek map area. This map was generated using aerial photographs, LiDAR DEMs, ground-based geophysics and field observations. This research also contributes to an increased understanding of the sedimentology and internal structure of ice-contact glaciofluvial deltas. / Graduate

During the last main phase of glaciations (26-13kaBP) an ice cap developed in south west Ireland and ice, from a dispersal centre in the vicinity of Kenmare, flowed north and diverged on the southern slopes of the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks. On these slopes, a weathering limit separates ice-moulded bedrock, on low ground, from frost-weathered terrain above. Assessment of bedrock dilation joint characteristics, Schmidt hammer R-value data, clay-sized mineral contents and magnetic properties of basal soil samples confirms significant contrasts in the degree of weathering above and below this limit. The weathering limit declines in altitude along former ice flow-lines and is confluent with morainic deposits on the eastern side of the Gap of Dunloe and on the western slopes of Skregbeg. This evidence supports the assertion that the high-level weathering limit is a periglacial trimline that marks the former maximum upper limit of the body of ice, which occupied this area of southwest Ireland during the LGM. This evidence, however, does not confute the notion that cold based, non-erosive plateau ice may have covered some or all of the upland surfaces that occur above the recorded weathering limits. Reconstruction of the former ice surface profile from periglacial trimline limits along three former flow lines yielded mean estimates for basal shear stress that ranged from 104.2 to 125.9 kPa. Although these values are high, they are within the range deemed normal for glaciers and ice sheets. The values suggest that the reconstructed areas of the ice cap were warm based and flowing on a bedrock substrate. This is supported by the geomorphological evidence of these areas, which shows that a landform – sediment association has developed consisting of zones of glacial scour and a thin, discontinuous drift cover. This contrasts with the glacial geomorphology of northern parts of the study area, where drift cover is largely continuous, and extensive in valley bottoms and on surrounding hillsides, and is associated with large lateral moraines.

A palaeoenvironmental record for the Wisconsin Later Glacial is provided from ten sites in the Magellan Region, southern Chile. Palynological and lithostratigraphical evidence provided by the sites was correlated with other palaeoenvironmental data from the Magellan region using ¹⁴C dating and tephrochronology. This enabled the construction of a regional record of environmental change that was compared with records in northern Patagonia and the Southern Hemisphere. Deglaciation of the Strait of Magellan began sometime before 16,590 yrs BP. A large Late Glacial ice advance believed to have occurred in the Strait of Magellan and contemporary with ice advances in northern Patagonia (c. 15,000-14,000 yrs BP) is not compatible with the ¹⁴C dating evidence. However, a Late Glacial ice advance along the Strait of Magellan was indicated by the glaciotectonic deformation of, and deposition of glaciolacustrine sediments above the Volcan Reclus tephra layer. Eight ¹⁴C dates provided the mean age estimate of 12,010±55 yrs BP for the deposition of the tephra. The erosion of a raised beach into the glaciolacustrine sediments after 7,950±60yrs BP provided the minimum age for the ice advance. Palynological evidence suggested that cold climatic conditions prevailed throughout the Wisconsin Late Glacial. The dominance of eurythermic pollen taxa, components of Patagonian steppe and glacial tundra vegetation, makes it difficult to infer a detailed climatic signal for the Wisconsin Late Glacial. However, a probable climatic deterioration occurred between c. 15,850-14,900 yrs BP. This may have been contemporary with an ice advance in northern Patagonia. A controversial climatic cooling correlated to the Northern Hemisphere Younger Dryas was not evident in the pollen record. The expansion of <I>Nothofagus</I> forest at c. 10,000 yrs BP indicated a change to a warmer environment contemporary with an intense arid phase. Therefore, it is likely that the large Late Glacial ice advance in the Strait of Magellan occurred between c. 12,000-10,000 yrs BP.

Many deglaciated watersheds possess complex longitudinal profiles and spatially variable sediment sources derived from the last glaciation. Accordingly, downstream patterns in fluvial forms and characteristics of the channel and floodplain may diverge from conventional ‘graded’ watershed models where channel slope decreases downstream. Within a small, deglaciated watershed, five distinct fluvial forms were identified and it was found that the watershed is organized in a spatially variable, but generally inverted arrangement with stable, low-energy forms dominating the upper watershed and more dynamic, high-energy forms in the lower watershed. As a consequence of this inverted and variable downstream succession, and the spatially erratic organization of glacial sediment sources, downstream trends in channel and floodplain characteristics are poorly defined, and in many cases, deviate from expected trends. This is most true for sedimentological variables where multiple co-dominant controls exist, while morphological and hydrological variables better conform to expected downstream trends.